News

Data security awareness training is now live

IG Toolkit Version 14.1 is Now Live

IG Toolkit version 14.1 is now online, and as per the recent communication sent to IG Toolkit administrators and SIGNs Chairs, there are no substantive changes to requirements in V14.1 from V14.

You should note that V14.1 is an interim solution pending the introduction of a redesigned Information Governance Toolkit - as recommended in the National Data Guardian’s Review of Data Security, Consent and Opt-outs, and based around assuring local implementation of the ten data sec

New Training Materials

30/03/2017

As you will be aware the NHS IGTT was decommissioned on 31 December 2016 and a replacement home for training is
in development. In the meantime, it is hoped that the materials below will provide support to organisations and
learners. If you would like to provide feedback about the content please use the Contact us form, or
email exeter.helpdesk@nhs.net and mark your query for the attention
of the IGTT refresh project.

NHS Trusts and CCGs - Survey of public sector organisations which transfer records to local places of deposit

24/01/2017

NHS Trusts and CCGs can still complete a survey on how many records they intend to transfer to a place of deposit by 10 February 2017. The Survey is voluntary and is undertaken on an annual basis by the National Archives.

Replacement of the NHS IG Training Tool

04/01/2017

As you will now be aware the NHS IGTT was decommissioned on 31 December 2016 and a replacement home for training is in development. The materials below provide an early sight of the e-learning module that is in development and can be used as interim training materials until the new e-learning is available.

Interim IG training materials

New home for IG training - Additional Q&A’s

28/11/2016

We have received some queries following the briefing about the closure of the NHS IG Training Tool (IGTT) and the new home for IG training in partnership with e-Learning for Healthcare. This additional message addresses the questions received to date.

The Information Governance Alliance has published two new guides

23/11/2016

"Information Governance is the responsibility of everyone" is a reminder for existing staff about their responsibility for good Information Governance when carrying out their work and "New to Care Sector Information Governance?
What you should know" is a guide for staff new to the concept of Information Governance and how it applies to health and care.

Important news regarding the NHS IG Training Tool

22/11/2016

The current NHS IG Training Tool (IGTT) was developed some years ago to
provide annual IG awareness training. Following Government Digital Services and Department of
Health guidance, we are delighted to announce that we are working with Health Education England
on the development of a new home for awareness training via the e-Learning for Healthcare website.

Message About the IG Toolkit

03/11/2016

Dear Colleagues

You may have heard or seen news reports that the IG toolkit is to be scrapped. I can reassure
you that this is not the case. There is a programme of work underway to improve the IGT,
to increase its relevance for senior managers, its accessibility for small organisations and
its focus on the new data security standards recommended by the National Data Guardian.

Disclosure of personal information to the police

20/09/2016

This guidance is provided to assist health and care organisations to determine whether or
not to share information with the police for crime related purposes. It covers circumstances
where personal information must be disclosed and the legal considerations where there is no
such imperative.

Annual Information Governance (IG) Incident Trends (2015-2016)

20/09/2016

This report
covers the IG incidents reported by Health and Adult Social Care
organisations in England using the IG Incident Reporting Tool for the period 1 June 2015
to 31 May 2016. The report covers reportable data protection breaches and separately
considers what may be learned from near misses and incidents that are not significant
enough to report.

National Data Guardian Report Publication

11/07/2016

We are pleased to confirm that the National Data Guardian has published her review into
data security, consent and public trust. At the same time the CQC has published its
report into data security in the NHS and the Department of Health has launched a
consultation on the findings and recommendations.

IGA publishes two new guides

22/06/2016

The IGA has published two new guides: A revision to the "Data controller issues" document and
guidance about the Information Governance issues associated with remote consultations
using free video conferencing applications

IG Toolkit Version 14 is Now Live

27/05/2016

With the National Data Guardian due to publish a report into Data Security Standards the IG Toolkit has been rolled over from Version 13 to Version 14. There are minor updates to outdated references and standards with an update for Local Authorities to take in account the introduction of new PSN connectivity compliance process.

IG Toolkit 2nd survey launched

Cyber Security Enhancements to the Incident Reporting Tool – Now Live

27/02/2015

The External Information Governance Delivery Team has been working with stakeholders to further enhance the Incident Reporting Tool to capture Cyber incidents and it is now live. See Change Release Note for further detail.

An enhancement to the Incident Reporting Tool (hosted within the IG Toolkit) has been developed further to facilitate the reporting of significant cyber security related serious incidents requiring investigation (Cyber SIRI).

IG Toolkit Version 13 - Requirements review

After listening to our users the External IG Delivery Team have been working with stakeholders to further enhance the IG Incident Reporting Tool and it is now live. See Change Release Note for further detail.

IGT V12.2 Release - Enhancements to the IG Incident Reporting Tool

The Caldicott Guardian Newsletter

Cyber Security Preparedness

15/07/2014

New functionality is being introduced to the IG Toolkit Version 12 to gather information on the Cyber Preparedness of some organisations. Your response will not impact on your Information Governance Toolkit Score. This notification is relevant to NHS Acute, Ambulance, Community, CSU’s, ASH CCG’s and Mental Health Trusts only.

The HSCIC External Information Governance (IG) Delivery Team would like to take this opportunity to ask you to submit any requests for change in relation to functional / technical improvements or enhancements to the IGT website.

New functional enhancements to the IG Toolkit Now Live

25/10/2013

Version 11.2 of the IG Toolkit Is now live and the IG Toolkit v11.2 change release note below provides a summary of the system changes. No changes have been made to the requirements in this release. Therefore, all requirement guidance, documentation and references remain labelled as Version 11.

Implementing the 20 Year Rule in the NHS

23/10/2013

New functionality is being introduced to the IG Toolkit in the version 11.2 release to gather information on the 20 Year Rule. Your response will not impact on your Information Governance Toolkit Score. This notification is relevant to NHS Acute, Ambulance, Community and Mental Health Trusts only.

Removal of duplicate documents held against assessments

Information: To share or not to share - Government response to the Caldicott Review

17/09/2013

The Government accepted all the recommendations of the Caldicott report, including the revised Caldicott Principles, and highlighted that while information sharing is essential to provide good care for everyone, there are rules that must be followed.

IG Toolkit version 11 is Now Live

Caldicott review: information governance in the health and care system

26/04/2013

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt today warmly welcomed the Caldicott Review, outlining how information and technology will only have a transformational effect on healthcare if this agenda respects the relationship of trust between a medical professional and their patient.

NHS Information Governance: Effective Management of Records during a period of transition or organisational change

07/10/2011

The Department of Health IG Policy team has prepared guidance aimed at those organisations going through a period of organisational change. The document should help NHS organisations to manage their information during the transitional period.

IG Toolkit v9 Now Live

03/06/2011

Version 9 of the IG Toolkit is now live. Users will notice some new functionality, of most interest will be the Rollover of all scores, evidence and comments from the previous assessment into version 9.

IG Toolkit Version 8 Assessments Released

17/05/2011

IG Toolkit Version 8 Assessments have now been released. For future versions of the IG toolkit all assessments, once released for publication by the organisation, will be accessible immediately on both the nww and www version of the website. When an organisation publishes their assessment they are confirming that this is the final version, no changes are needed and the assessment has been signed off by the board/senior management. This is applicable to ALL organisation types

Changes to the rules on using cookies and similar technologies for storing information

17/05/2011

On 9 May 2011, the Information Commissioners Office published new advice on how UK organisations can comply with new EU law which will come into force on 26 May 2011 concerning the use of cookies technology.

IG Toolkit version 8 submissions

The new Good Practice Guidelines for GP electronic patient records version 4
will act as a reference source of information for all those involved in developing, deploying
and using general practice IT systems

NHS Trusts and SHAs - Staff IG Training Reports

Community pharmacy and business continuity requirement 8-319

25/02/2011

Further to the News item posted on 9 February 2011, a global exemption has now been applied to this requirement for community pharmacies as the Department of Health and the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee are still in discussions on business continuity planning. The exemption is applied during an overnight process and has also been applied to version 8 assessments that have already been submitted.

This Information Governance (IG) guidance provides NHS organisations with a general awareness of the associated risks for maintenance and disposal of fax printers and other devices that use consumable ribbon or film. It should be read in conjunction with the NHS IG Risk Management Guidance for Maintenance and Secure Disposal of Digital Printers, Copiers and Multi Function Devices.

Community pharmacy and business continuity requirement 8-319

09/02/2011

Community pharmacy and business continuity requirement 8-319 Community pharmacies
are expected to attain level 2 against each of the pharmacy information governance requirements
by 31 March 2011, with the exception of requirement 8-319.

Independent contractor IG Toolkit scores

Update – Requirement 8-404

23/09/2010

The percentage of maternity records required for audit at Attainment Level 2a of Requirement 8-404 has been amended to 0.5% to align with the requirement set out by the NHSLA CNST Risk Management Standards.

Information Asset Administrators (IAA) Training Events

23/09/2010

Following the successful series of training events for NHS Senior Information Risk Owners (SIRO) and Information Asset Owners (IAO) in May 2010, it is now proposed to run a number of related training workshops for local Information Asset Administrators (IAA).

The NHS Operating Framework 2010/2011, through the NHS Informatics Planning Guidance Annex 1 (National Expectations) stated that: "An IG audit utilising the centrally provided audit methodology should be included within the work plans of each organisations' auditors”.

This Information Governance (IG) guidance provides NHS organisations with a general awareness of the associated risks for maintenance and disposal of digital printers, copiers and multifunction devices.

This updated Information Governance (IG) guidance provides NHS organisations with a general awareness of the associated risks of Short Message Service (SMS) and texting that may potentially affect the effectiveness of local services.

Information Governance for Community Pharmacies

17/02/2010

If you have a query relating to IG in community pharmacies, please contact the dedicated helpline on 0113 394 6540 or via email at pharmacy.assurance@nhs.net This facility is available for pharmacies, PCTs, SHAs and others interested in this work-area.

IG Statement of Compliance: Clarification of approval status

14/09/2009

The central team has taken a number of queries recently asking whether we are able to provide a list of “IG Statement of Compliance approved” third parties. The fact of a completed IGSoC does not remove the requirement for commissioners to assure themselves that their providers/suppliers are meeting and maintaining information governance standards. Commissioners should therefore take into account the following information:

IG Toolkit Version 7 Release

01/07/2009

Version 7 of the IG toolkit has now been released. This version of the toolkit contains the new 3-stage reporting process for the large NHS
trusts (i.e. Acute trusts, PCTs, foundation trusts, mental health trusts, ambulance trusts
and strategic health authorities).

Important Information - Information Governance Assurance Framework

28/04/2009

Due to a number of queries raised and the changes to the reporting cycle for
version 7 onwards, some further information has been published regarding the Information
Governance Assurance Framework. As a result of the changes to the reporting cycle,
any changes to the IG Toolkit standards have been kept to a minimum, you can view these
changes in the Change Control Notice for Version 7 of the toolkit.

NHS Information Risk Management: Good Practice Guidance

28/01/2009

The Digital Information Policy team has published guidance aimed at those
responsible for managing information risk within NHS organisations, including
Senior Information Risk Owners and Information Asset Owners. It reflects
Government guidelines and is consistent with the Cabinet Office data handling
report.

Information Governance Assurance Programme: David Nicholson letters

11/11/2008

In
order to clarify new and existing requirements, a series of papers was issued to
NHS organisations setting out responsibilities for information governance and
for providing additional assurances on information governance to each strategic
health authority (SHA), or to Monitor, the Independent Regulator of NHS
Foundation Trusts.

IG toolkit submissions

23/10/2008

An IG
toolkit assessment submission represents evidence of an organisation’s
attainment against the IG standards at a particular point in time. This evidence
must be retained for audit purposes and cannot be overwritten by un-submitting
and adjusting scores. This process is expanded on in this article.

The IG Training Tool is an online tool focused on all aspects of Information
Governance learning. The aim of the tool is to provide all staff with an
opportunity to develop IG knowledge and skills to support the provision of high
quality health and social care.